


Domri Rade Ruins Everything

by Domoz



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: AU, Dont be fooled by the pairing tag, Ive gone and made Domri and Maree the main characters, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-07-26 10:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7570345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Domoz/pseuds/Domoz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ral Zarek goes to coffee shops, Maree goes to the wastes, and Domri Rade unknowingly ruins everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Ral Zarek had never expected to know the name of Guildpact’s favorite coffee shop. If you had told him three weeks ago that he would be waiting there to _meet_ the Guildpact, sipping on something that was more cream than coffee, he would have laughed in your face. And yet here he was, eyes on the door, waiting for one Jace Beleren to come in and tell him about his day.  


After Lightning Bug was deemed a failure, Ral got about a week of peace before he got called in to talk to the dragon. He and the others that had headed the project were to be put on a sort of “cleanup” assignment. Niv Mizzet had puffed smoke in all of their faces and told them that they were to do case studies on each of the Bugs to see if there were any similarities to the mana conditions that had caused them to appear on radar.

The whole idea was very worrisome to Ral. Most of the Bugs he had selected were those that had appeared in the most dangerous places on Ravnica - Golgari claimed sewers, Rakdos carnariums, and even one way out in the wastes, where nothing but Gruul tribes roamed. It meant that either the dragon was trying to get rid of them, or that he really _had_ drawn some sort of conclusion from the failed experiment and was trying to tie it together with proof from them.  


Ral had frowned and grunted and took on the supposedly impossible job of tailing the Guildpact. The other guildmages had patted him on the shoulder and wished him good luck - if he got caught following Jace Beleren around, chances were he’d be thought a spy or an assassin and Niv Mizzet would more likely than not let him rot in a prison cell for getting caught.  


Ral, of course, had gone out of the building, found Jace, and let him know what was going on.

“I just need some details about whatever it is you do all day,” he had said. “Just some anecdotes to make the report I’m going to fake a little bit more believable.”

Jace had crinkled his eyebrows and smiled a lopsided smile and said, “Well, I go to the same coffee place every morning, if you want to come and hear me complain about work.”

Ral had rolled his eyes, but every morning for the past few weeks he had shown up to Jace’s stupidly-expensive favorite coffee shop and taken half-hearted notes about the things that the Guildpact had to deal with.  


The coffee was bad, but Ral had started to find that he enjoyed having someone to share it with. Usually his mornings were a bagel and the reheated coffee from the night before, alone in his lab while he worked on something else. Jace wasn’t the best conversationalist, either, but they had more shared interests than Ral had expected. As bitter as he was to admit it, he _enjoyed_ spending time with Jace and had almost started to wish that he didn’t have to use work as an excuse to do it.  


That morning Jace came in, ordered some tea and a pastry that was overstuffed with jam, and sat down across from Ral with a stupid grin on his face.

“You’re not going to believe what happened yesterday…” he started, and launched into a long-winded story about some Orzhov tax man, a simic book clerk, and a someone from the Rakdos who had _adamantly_ refused to put on a shirt. Ral found himself listening and chuckling along until the end of the story, where Jace awkwardly paused.

“Um,” he said, “you didn’t write any of that down. When are you supposed to give this report, anyways?”

Ral shrugged and looked down at the table, only a little embarrassed. “I’ve been sending in small ones every now and then, but everyone’s going in today to compare notes and give Mizzet a big formal one. I finished writing it a few days ago.”

Jace blinked.

“Oh. I guess I thought…” he trailed off.

Now Ral looked up at him with one eyebrow raised high. “You guess you thought what?”

“I guess I just thought that you’d stop showing up once you were done, is all.”

Ral snorted. “Well I didn’t.”

Jace didn’t immediately respond; he just stared deep into his pastry, apparently deep in thought. Not for the first time, Ral cursed his shitty conversational skills.  


A long, awkward silence passed before Jace finally said, “No, I guess you didn’t. Which was nice of you.”

“ _Is_ nice of me, unless you suddenly have someone else you want to get breakfast with.”

Jace chuckled, and the tension broke.

“Fine,” he agreed, “ _is_ nice of you.”  


They finished their breakfasts in companionable silence, but as they stood up to go their separate ways, Jace looked up with a frown.

“Aren’t you worried about the other Guildmages’ reports?” he asked suddenly. Ral smirked.

“I _may_ have spent the time I was supposed to be tailing you finding some Lighting Bugs and telling them to stay off plane for a while. It’s really hard to do a case study with no case, after all.”

“Pretty much impossible,” Jace agreed. “Are you sure you got the right ones?”

Ral rolled his eyes. “Don’t insult me, Beleren. I got all the ones I could get to. And any Walker that chooses to spend their time in the sewers or the wastes can probably take care of themselves - and that’s if the trolls don’t take care of the Guildmages first.”  


Jace gave him a funny look.

“Your guild leader really sends people into rival territory alone? I get that the Guildpact is back, but I’m not a miracle worker.”

Ral shrugged.

“I don’t think my guild leader expects them to come back alive. He gets pretty unhappy when experiments don’t work out.”

The bell on the door jingled as Ral pulled it open for them.

“Wow,” said Jace, “it’s no wonder you were worried about him figuring us out. Good luck with him today.”

 

Ral rolled his eyes, but he chucked. “And good luck with your shirtless Rakdos.”

  


-

  


Ral avoided meetings like these when he could help it. It was always a bunch of naïve new guildmages thinking they could impress Niv Mizzet with whatever they had done.

Niv Mizzet was never impressed.  


This meeting, however had an abundance of older, jaded guildmages who were there because they were required to be. There was some satisfaction in listening to them go up there one by one and explain that they couldn’t find their Lighting Bug, that all they had were the stories of people who had seen them.  


By the time Ral was called up, Niv was very obviously unhappy.

“Well,” Ral started, “the Guildpact wakes up at approximately 6:30 a.m. everyday, though that can be off by as much as thirty minutes on a weekday…”

He got to talk for about thirty seconds before Niv bellowed, “Enough! Was there anything of scientific interest, or do you intend to tell us every meeting the Guildpact has been to in the past three weeks?”

Ral could hardly keep the smirk off his face.

“Well, I don’t know about scientific interest, but there _was_ a little incident where a clerk was caught-”

“That is _enough_. Sit down, Zarek.”  


Ral bowed his head and went back to his seat. Strangely enough, it had felt like the most successful report he had ever given to Niv Mizzet. It had certainly gotten the biggest reaction.  


Niv had started to raise his head with an expression indicating that he was about to launch into a speech about how big of a failure each of them were. Before he could get the chance, the main door to Nivix opened with a loud creaking and someone came stumbling in.

 

She looked dirty, and the file she was carrying looked like it had about as many leaves in it as it did papers.

“ _Holy hell,”_ Ral heard someone down the row whisper, “ _is that Chamberlain Maree?_ ”

“Sorry!” she called out. “Sorry I’m late, I came as fast as I could!”  


Maree had, for some reason, picked a Lighting Bug out in the wastes. Ral suspected that she wasn’t given much of a choice - the change she had made to the experiment was _supposedly_ the one that ruined the data.  


Ral could see a twig knotted into her hair. He didn’t feel particularly sorry for her.  


Niv looked down at her, the same expression on his face. She seemed able to sense his impatience and fumbled for her papers.

 

“I um… Didn’t have the means to write a formal report,” she said, “but I have my notes.”  


A plume of smoke drifted from Niv’s nostrils. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone had been sent to the medical bay with a burn caused by the guild leader.  


“The shortened version, please. I trust you were able to at least _find_ your case?”  


Maree looked up at him with a confused expression.

“O-of course I did, sir.”

That seemed to relax the dragon, at least a little bit. Seeing her chance, Maree went on.

“In fact, the reason for his being a Lightning Bug seemed to be exceedingly clear.”

 

There was a short moment of silence before Maree nervously continued, “The um… Lighting Bug I was assigned to, Domri Rade, can disappear and reappear at will. He claimed to be visiting other worlds. I know it sounds ridiculous, but he’s brought back some pretty convincing proof.”

 

Ral felt like his heart had just stopped. All the work he did, and Maree had just waltzed in and ruined it. _Again._

Well, certainly Niv wouldn’t believe her without more proof - and really what proof could there _be_ for a claim like that-  


Maree nervously shuffled through her folder, choosing, for some reason, to pull out a pressed flower.

“Um, sir?”

 

Niv brought his head down to look at Maree more closely.

“Interesting,” he said. “I think that your findings warrant a little more looking into.”

  
“Oh,” said Ral under his breath, “ _fuck._ ”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Maree froze in place, leaf held aloft in the air as Niv Mizzet brought his head down to look at her. Just his mere presence made the air feel hot.

 

He had…. Accepted her claim? Just like that?

 

“If I have a few days I can write up something more proper, and then-”  


She coughed as Niv blew smoke in her face.

“Someone else can go through your notes. I want _you_ to bring your Lightning Bug here. I plan to give him something of an interview.”  


Maree gaped at him but knew better than to argue, at least directly.

“Well, it needs to be someone who’s familiar with the way I write notes. They’re a bit messy, given I was in the Wastes.”  


Niv Mizzet snorted.

“I’m sure you’ll recognize plenty of peers you’ve worked with in this very room. Pick one and get on with it.”

 

She slowly turned to look at the crowd of guildmages. Most of them were looking at her in shock, and a few in anger. It looked like they hadn’t gotten any of the information she had.

She hesitated, and another heated breath almost knocked the papers out of her hands. Niv Mizzet was not a patient dragon.  


There was a face she recognized- “Bango!  You can read my shorthand, can’t you?”

The goblin jumped with surprise, though his expression quickly became fearful as Niv shifted to look at him.

“Yes?” he squeaked.  


The dragon certainly looked much cheerier than he had before Maree had come in.

“Then it’s settled. Hand the notes over and go get him.”  


It didn’t look like there was going to be any getting out of this one.

Bango took the folder and shot her a look that said, “ _Why_?" Maree hoped her nervous smile got across her, “ _Sorry_.”  


She avoided the eyes of the other guildmages as she walked out the door, but she could still feel their stares burning into the back of her head. Ral Zarek seemed especially angry with her, though that wasn’t really new. She guessed he must have been mad that she had shown him up, or something.  


She sighed as the door to Nivix creaked closed behind her, both in relief and regret. She didn’t mind being out of there, but she wished she had gotten a chance to rest for at least a day before being sent out again like some taskmage.

 

That wasn’t even the thing that worried her most; she was expected to bring _Domri_ back to the guildhall, and she had no idea what Niv Mizzet planned to do to him. How, oh _how_ , had she gotten into this situation?

 

-  


Niv had called her in to speak to him, alone. It wasn’t unusual - or rather, it _hadn’t_ been before, but it was something more suited for the chamberlain, and she had been demoted to guildmage just a few days ago.

“I’ve got a new project for you,” he had said. “Or rather, we’re going to expand upon the old one.”

She and most of the other guildmages who had been working on project Lightning Bug were supposed to go find the Bugs and write up reports about whatever mana conditions had caused them to appear on the radar. It was obviously a punishment, which was something Niv Mizzet only did when he was _really_ upset with the way an experiment was run.

 

He had told her that she was assigned to a Bug that had appeared way out in the Rubblebelt. Later, she found out that she was the only one that hadn’t gotten to _choose_ who she went after, which made it pretty clear to her what point he was trying to make. Niv had forced her to go out and search for a Bug that could _only_ have shown up thanks to the changes she had made.

She wanted nothing less than to go out to the Wastes, but her choice was between that and leaving the guild, so Maree sighed and changed out her guildmage coat for something a little more padded and started walking towards the end of the city.  


As far as she was concerned, it may as well have been the end of the world.

 

-

It took three wagon rides from increasingly tired looking Guildless to get her to the ruins that marked the start of the Rubblebelt. The last woman had frowned and hemmed and hawed and asked if she was sure, really _sure_ that she wanted to head out there. When Maree had insisted that yes, she was, the woman and leaned in close and told her there was an old viashino who scavenged the ruins who would be willing to guide her a fair ways out towards the tribes if she greased his palms enough.  


The viashino only asked her one question, and that was, “Where ya goin?”

All Maree had to go off of was the last location her Bug had last shown up on the radar and a vague idea of who the Gruul respected.

“North,” she said, “to um, wherever you think Borborygmos’ tribe is going to be.”

 

The viashino gave her a long stare, obviously unimpressed with whatever she was trying to do. Then, without a word, he grabbed a walking stick and gestured for her to follow.  


He left her on a ridge overlooking a ramshackle-looking campsite.

“Borborygmos ain’t there, but if you can’t deal with them, there’s no way you can deal with him.”

They were the first words he had spoken to her since the beginning of the hike, and he didn’t even stop to wait for a response.  


Maree sighed and licked her lips and started on the trek down the hill. It was steep, and she slipped more than once. Apparently she had caused quite a scene, because by the time she reached the bottom, a small crowd was waiting for her. At least they looked more curious than angry.

 

She had thought through how she was going to do this a million times, but now that it was actually time, her mouth had gone dry. In that moment, getting burned to ash by Niv Mizzet didn’t seem half as scary as being beaten to death with a rock in the middle of the wilderness. At least it would be a little more dignified.  


Before she could start to speak, an old man pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He looked her up and down suspiciously.  


“You’re not welcome here, outsider,” he said. “I suggest you go back from whence you came.”

 

“Um,” she said, “I can’t. I want to… Join the Gruul?”  


Oh. She was doing that thing where she panicked and spoke without thinking again, and had managed to spout out the least believable lie she could have thought of. The wave of laughter that passed through the crowd told her they didn’t find it that likely, either. The elder simply raised an eyebrow.

 

“And what was so terrible that it drove you out to the Rubblebelt to seek us out?”

 

Maree’s mind raced.

“Well, I used to work for the Izzet. I, uh, made explosives and things like that. Got told I had to do something more productive or else I was out. Long story short, there were some explosions and I had to leave. I figured I’d go somewhere that my talents would be more… Appreciated.”

That, at least, got a positive reaction from the the crowd. A tattooed elven woman leaned forward and called out, “So that means you can make explosions for us then, yeah?”

Suddenly the crowd was all abuzz with the idea of blowing up this building or that whole district and it took the old man - she was pretty sure she had heard someone call him Sabast through all the noise - stamping his staff on the ground to quiet them down.

“Fine, then. She can stay, but until she proves herself, she cannot eat or sleep with us.” Sabast waved his staff in her direction. “You have one week before we move on without you.”  


He turned to leave, and immediately Maree was swarmed with questions. Mostly from the younger of the Gruul, and mostly about bombs. She answered what she could - it wasn’t like she had _no_ experience with explosives, but they weren't exactly her forte. She was already starting to wish she had told the truth and faced _those_ consequences, instead.  


-.

 

Eventually, the attention died down and Maree found herself sitting alone on the edge of a cooking fire. Dinner tonight was elk, roasted whole on a spit.

Dinner for _Maree_ was the trail mix she had brought with her. Now that things were more quiet and she had gathered her bearings, she had started to come up with a plan. She was already in deep, so she might as well try to gain their trust and seek out her Lightning Bug from there. The more immediate problem was how she was going to do that in a _week._

 

Before she could get too deep in self-pity, her thoughts were interrupted by another curious tribesman - a wiry kid with gauges and a poof of curly hair in the middle of an otherwise bald head. He had a rib in one hand, and the juices from it were dribbling down his arm.

 

“Hey,” he said, “you never said your name to everyone, you know. Isn’t that supposed to be rude?”

Maree looked up at him.

“Well, you never said your name either,” she pointed out. The kid nodded as though that was a perfectly fair argument.

 

He held out his hand. “Well, I’m Domri Rade.”

 

She shook it. “Maree.”

 

He nodded, and she couldn’t help but notice the sparkle in his eye.

“You plan on impressing everyone by blowing something up, right?”

 

She smiled wryly. “I would if I had the supplies. It’s not that easy to make a bomb.”

 

Domri leaned down and looked around conspiratorially. “Well, _I_ happen to know where an abandoned Izzet warehouse is, and I _also_ happen to know that they left a bunch of junk laying around.”

She blinked and looked up at him. “You’re awfully excited to see an explosion, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “My friends are, too.”  


-  


The warehouse had obviously been scavenged through plenty of times. Most of the machines were smashed, and anything made of Mizzium was long gone. There was a pretty thick coating of dust, too, which Domri and his friends were having a good time kicking up, but which told Maree that any of the chemicals she would make an explosive with were probably long-decayed, if they hadn’t been taken already.  


She sighed and started the search anyways. Domri followed close behind, neck craned so he could see over her shoulder.  


“She’s not going to show you how to blow stuff up,” said one of his friends.

“ _I_ wouldn’t if I were her,” said the other.

 

Domri spun around. “Whip! Lakkie! Shut up!”  


Maree used the ensuing roughhousing to sneak away. There had to be _something_ in here that would be considered destructive enough to be impressive. If this warehouse was anything like the ones she had visited, then there should be a link to the power grid. She had seen plenty of smaller explosions just from people hooking things up wrong, so it stood to reason that if she tried to _engineer_ one, it would be much more damaging.

 

She had to move some toppled shelving to find it, but it was there. Unfortunately, it was hooked up to a rather antique battery pack that, after some poking about, revealed itself to be only half-charged, and not getting any fuller. At some point, the building had been disconnected from the grid.

 

Maree unhooked the battery and turned it over in her hands. It probably couldn’t hold enough energy to make any sort of explosion, either. But the ports were interestingly very similar to what she was used to working with when building weirds.

By now, Domri, Lakkie and Whip had gotten bored of wrestling and had wandered back over to her. When they saw the battery in her lap, all of them widened their eyes.  


“Have you already built it?” Said Whip - or was that one Lakkie?  


Maree shook her head.

“No. Actually, I don’t think there’s going to be a bomb at all.”

Lakkie - or maybe that one was Whip - groaned, and the two of them turned to leave. But Domri stared at her with his head tilted.  


“You don’t seem too upset,” he said.  


“I’m not,” Maree agreed.  


“You have another plan.”  


Maree nodded. Domri just frowned at her and waited for some elaboration.

 

“As long as a building or two gets destroyed, I should be good, right?”  


-

  


The weird took most of her week-long timeframe to build. Some of the Gruul would stop by to check in on her progress, though only Domri’s visits remained consistent.  


(On the third day, he admitted that he had been told to watch her and make sure she wasn’t up to any funny business. He _was_ honestly curious about how she was building this thing, but he was also trying to gain respect with the elders of the tribe. Maree admitted that it was probably fair.)

 

The weird itself was a hulking mass of stone held together with whatever bits of metal wiring were still left around the building. The spells on it were primitive, too - this was no Melek. It wouldn’t be able to reason much more beyond ‘smash.’ But then, that was all that she needed it to do.  


On the sixth day, she found Sabast and told him that she was ready to prove herself.

 

A crowd gathered around the building to watch it fall. It really didn’t feel that different from presenting research.  


When she activated the weird, there were sparks, then bolts of lightning and the weird shuddered to life. The huge chunks of rubble were held aloft by magic and electricity, and the people outside cheered as the creature crashed through the front wall.

 

Maree went to stand with them and admire her own work. A corner of the roof caved in and, as if on cue, Sabast looked up at her.

“I thought you were a master of explosions? What is this?”  


Maree laughed, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. “I like to think of myself as master of all kinds of demolition. They use weirds to tear down buildings all the time.”

 

The only comment Sabast had to that was, “Hm.”

Now she watched with mounting nervousness as her weird did it’s work. The tribe seemed to like it, at least. There was an inordinate amount of celebration for every pillar her creation broke.

 

The battery only had so much energy, though, and as the final wall came down, so did the weird. The creature ran out of  (unfortunately metaphorical) steam; the stones that made up most of it’s bulk came apart and fell down with the ruins of the warehouse. As if to oblige her earlier lie, the battery even exploded in a small burst of flames and thick smoke.

 

There was all sorts of cheering at that. Sabast let it die down, then gestured widely from the crowd to her.

 

“So what say you. Is she worthy?”  


There was more cheering. Sabast sighed, as though he were disappointed but not particularly surprised. He looked up at her with a glint of something dangerous in his eye.

  
“I imagine, since you’re so eager, that you’ll want to go through your Burying as soon as possible.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Maree was a main character all along.
> 
> Now as always: Snoot you beautiful bastard, you've made everything right yet again. May the gods bless your soul.


	3. Chapter 3

They were going to bury her alive.

Maree had tested the strength of the spells that had been placed on her several times, but couldn’t find a fault in them. As far as she could tell, the Burying was an actual ritual and not some joke made up to punish her.  Usually it was meant for Gruul kids who were coming of age and joining a tribe, though her case was not totally unheard of.

Sabast had her change her clothes out for a funeral shroud; it was thin and left her shivering in the cold air. They were going to lower her into a grave and cover her with dirt, and thanks to the spells on her she would live. She wouldn’t suffocate or starve, but what worried her most was that the spells were meant to last and no one was willing to give her any information on how long exactly she was going to be down there.

Most of the tribesman ignored her. Some outright waved her away, which was a far cry from how they had been celebrating her the day before. It confused her until she sat down by a cooking fire and an older woman waved her away with a call of, “Begone, ghost!”  
  


They were pretending she was dead. Cute.  
  


Even Domri and his friends, who had been following her around and storming her with questions non-stop since she had torn down the warehouse, were avoiding her. She caught the boy himself glancing at her more than once with an expression that she could only read as worry. It was closest thing to sympathy she had, but even then, when she approached him and asked what was going, on he nervously looked away from her and said, “It’s… Complicated. Good luck.”

 

That was the most she could get out of anyone before Sabast had found her and brought her _here._ To a cave, with a grave that was just her size. Sabast looked at her from under heavy eyelids.

“I can give you one last chance, Outsider. I can let you go home now, if you promise never to come back.”

Maree’s mouth went dry. Tearing down an abandoned building had been one thing -- trusting in this man to keep her safe while she was buried alive was something else. The spells were strong, certainly, but…

Well, where would she go if she abandoned this now? Back to Niv Mizzet? If he knew she had just _given up,_ then she’d probably never be allowed to lead her own research team ever again. He probably expected her to just die out here, anyway.

Stupid, spiteful dragon.

 

“No,” she said, “I’m ready. I thought I wasn’t an outsider anymore?”

Sabast gave her a long look, face carefully expressionless.

“You won’t be, after this. Let us begin, then.”  
  


He gestured for some others to join him and the ritual began. Most of it went by in a blur -- there was smoke and chanting, and Maree was laying in a hole in the ground with her heart beating out of her chest.  
  


And then dirt, on top of her. Dark and suffocating, only she didn’t need to breathe. There was no light, no sound -- only the pressure and coldness of the earth on top of her. She wished she had brought a watch, brought _something_ to track the time. Realistically she knew she had only been under for only a few minutes, but the sensory deprivation had already stretched it to feel like hours.  
  


At first she counted heartbeats. At some point, her attention lapsed and she lost count and, frustrated, turned her mind to doing prime factorizations. She had always meant to memorize some of the more useful ones. May as well try and make her time down here productive.  
  


She dozed in and out of consciousness. Factors gave way to fear and anger. Sabast and the rest of them had no intention of digging her up, did they? Hell, not even NIv Mizzet would send someone out looking for her. She was going to die an agonizingly slow death down here, unable to move or call out for help and no one would _care_.

 

The thought made her want to cry, and as panicked as she was, she eventually gave into it and sobbed into the dirt.  
  


More time passed. Hours? Days? Anger became tiredness. Vaguely, she wondered if she was supposed to pray to the spirits the Gruul worshipped. It was some boar, wasn’t it? Down here, the idea didn’t seem so ridiculous. The Orzhov had _their_ spirits, after all. Why shouldn’t the Gruul?

  
Maree had never been a religious woman, and had no idea how exactly she was supposed to pray, but she tried. It just felt like tossing thoughts out into the void, but it’s not as though it could hurt anyone.  
  


_Please,_ she thought out to no one in particular, _I want to live. I’ll do anything. I’ll become a proper Gruul. I’ll go home and never bother them again. Whatever will get me out of here._

 

There was nothing. No response but the tightness in her chest and the weight of grave dirt.  
  


She would have cried more, if she had anything left in her.  
  


_Just give me something. A sign that I’m not going to die down here_.  
  


As if on cue, she could hear the dirt above her start to shift. She wasn’t about to get her hopes up; it might be a wild animal digging for corpses, or a wurm narrowly missing her as it passed through the topsoil above.  
  


Time was still hard to measure, but eventually the dirt cleared away, and though she couldn’t see anything, Maree could feel the cold air of the cave as it touched her skin. Every part of her body felt like it was covered in goosebumps as she sat up and took a shuddering breath.

 

Somewhere in the distance she saw a torch being lit, and then another, and another. There was the silhouette of a man, and she reached out and took the hand he was offering. Somehow the grave didn’t seem as deep, and the darkness of the cave certainly didn’t seem as dark.

 

He helped her out of the grave and she could see -- the man was Sabast, the people behind him  were the older members of the tribe, looking her up and down with approval.  
  


“Well, Maree, you’ve survived.” She looked down at Sabast. He was holding out a folded set of clothes for her. He almost looked… Proud?

“Welcome to the Gruul.”

  
  


-

  
  


The rest of the tribe had set up something of a party to welcome her. The Gruul were not exactly known for their parties, but there was a boar on a spit and a bunch of scrounged alcohol. When Maree was led in front of them in her new doeskin dress, scrubbed clean of all the grave dirt, they started to cheer.

She gave them a wan smile. She was hungry but not exactly in the mood to do any more partying than that. The hardest part, she supposed, was over. Now she had to find her Lightning Bug.

 

Her stomach growled. That whole business could probably wait until tomorrow, anyways.  
  


She was given the largest cut of pork off the hog, which she dug into with gusto. The spell had only stopped her from suffering the ill effects of hunger, but hadn’t actually made her any less ravenous. She tore through it and licked the grease off her fingers with a sigh. She wasn’t sure she could remember eating anything so delicious in her life.

 

The rest of the tribe seemed to respect that the Burying was an exhausting experience and didn’t pressure her terribly hard to join in their festivities. Not long after she ate, she found her eyelids were growing heavy. She had slept some when she was buried, but it hadn’t been restful.

 

Until now, she had been sleeping on the ground in the warehouse -- but the warehouse was gone now, and it was too cold to sleep out in the open. If she was a member of the Gruul now, shouldn’t she have a place to sleep among them?

She looked around the revelers, trying to pick out someone she knew well enough to ask. Sure enough, there was Domri Rade walking towards her, saying something to his friends to get them to scurry off. He grabbed his own piece of meat and sat down beside her.  
  


“Uh,” he started awkwardly, “hey, Miss Maree. You alright? I know that the burying can get kinda heavy.”  
  


Domri winced at his unintentional pun, but Maree brushed it off with a tired laugh.

“I’m fine, thanks. And just Maree is okay.”

 

Domri nodded seriously. He obviously had something on his mind, but didn’t seem to be able to bring it up. He kept giving her sideways looks and opening his mouth only to shut it again a moment later.  
  


“Domri?”  
  


He froze up as though she had caught him doing something wrong. Maree wasn’t sure if it counted as changing the subject if there wasn’t a subject to begin with.  
  


“I was just wondering… Is there a place where people who don’t have tents go to sleep? I’d rather not stay out here.”  
  


“Well, no. But I’m sure someone would let you stay with them until you got one for yourself.” Domri brightened up, relaxing a bit. “You can stay with me in mine if you want. If you… Don’t mind the smell of ceratok, I mean.”  
  


“That will be fine,” she said with another small smile. At the moment she probably _could_ fall asleep out here by the fire, but she really would prefer some kind of roof.  
  


Domri stood up with purpose and held out a hand to help her up, too. He led her to his tent. To Maree, it looked more like a bunch of blankets tied to sticks, but she had to admit it _was_ warm. He followed her in and offered her a fur pelt that belonged to some animal she couldn’t identify.  
  


She nodded to him in thanks and started to lie down, but he was still looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. Before she could ask him if something was wrong, he blurted out, “When you were buried under there, did you feel like you went somewhere?”  
  


She gave him a sideways glance.

“What… Do you mean, exactly?” she asked carefully.  
  


Domri looked away, suddenly bright red with embarrassment.

“Nothing. I... Nothing. Nevermind.”  
  


As tired as she was, Maree was now just a little too interested to let it drop.

“It’s obviously not _nothing,”_ she said with a frown, “I didn’t feel like that, but if _you_ did, and you want to talk about it...”  
  


Domri winced. She had hit the nail on the head.  
  


“Look, I just wanted to see if you went through the same thing I did. That’s all.”

“You haven’t talked to anyone else about it? Not even Sabast?”

 

Domri shook his head, obviously uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to explain. He wouldn’t understand.”  
  


“But it’s obviously affecting you.”  
  


Domri reached up to wrap up some of his hair around his fingers, tugging at it nervously.

“It’s eating me alive! But... But no one would get it. They’d think I’m insane!”

 

Maree shrugged. “I’ve dealt with plenty of things I didn’t understand before, and none of it seemed crazy to me. I think the fact that you’re as worried about it as you are says a lot about how ‘insane’ you are.”

He considered this. After a long moment, he seemed to have come to a decision. Domri leaned foreward.

“I’ll tell _you_ ,” he said. “I always knew you were different from them. You just have to promise not to tell anyone.”

Maree nodded. Domri took a breath, put his hands back in his lap, and started on his tale.

 

He had gone to a forest, with trees taller than anything that could be found on Ravnica, and plants and animals like nothing he had ever seen. There hadn’t been a building in sight. And he had met others, too. Elves, but dressed like no elf he had ever met.  
  


And then he had gone home -- but not to his grave. He had to walk back to his tribe. He had _been_ there. And he could go back.  
  


“That’s what happened,” he finished, “You believe me, right?”  
  


Maree nodded slowly. She had heard of stranger things than someone waking up in an unfamiliar part of Ravnica. As for the stuff that came in between…  
  


“I won’t lie to you and say I believe you right out,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s a place like you’re describing _anywhere_ on Ravnica. But if you think you can go back, what’s stopping you? You could even bring back a souvenir.  I think you might be trying to convince yourself about it as much as you are me.”  
  


Domri gaped at her. Again, she had somehow managed to get right to the heart of his worry.

 

“...Nothing, I guess. I just don’t know how long it will take me to get back here, is all.”  
  


“You did it last time, didn’t you?”

“I guess I did.”  
  


There was a long moment of silence, and then Domri stood up.

“Alright, then I’ll do it again. And I’ll bring something back and then we’ll both know that I’m not some raving lunatic.”

 

Maree watched him as he bit his lip and clenched his fists and… _Disappeared_. Maybe she should have expected it, but it still surprised her. After a moment, she leaned forward and searched the ground where he had been standing.  
  


No. He was gone.  
  


She really wished she was able to take notes without attracting suspicion. She sighed and leaned back into her nest of furs. Well, this certainly could be something that could cause a Lightning Bug to appear on the radar. Teleportation like that would cause _something_ to show up.  
  


Hopefully Domri would come back, with proof of whatever it was he had been talking about. She yawned.

 

Hopefully he would be alright, wherever he was.

  
  


-

  
  


Even out here in the Rubblebelt, being woken up by having a bunch of plants dumped on her was a surprise. Maree sputtered awake -- blurry green shapes fell past her vision and she looked around startled.  
  


There was Domri, sporting some new bruises, a lot of mud, and a shit-eating grin. She looked at him, then down to the pile of flowers that had gathered in her lap.  
  


“Good Morning,” said Domri.

“Oh,” said Maree.

 

She picked up a plant by the stem and examined it. She was no expert in plant life, so even if this was something that _could_ be found on Ravnica, she wasn’t sure she could identify it. Still, it didn’t look like anything she could recognize.  
  


“I grabbed an armful for you from the forest. They seem pretty real to _me_.”

“Yes,” agreed Maree, “they do. Krokt, Domri, where did you _go?”_

 

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. Away?”  
  


Maree spun the plant around in her fingers and frowned.

“Maybe… Maybe you’re not going away. What if you’re travelling through time somehow? Going to ancient Ravnica?”

 

She had dabbled a bit with the idea and knew some Guildmages that had dedicated a lot more research to it. Maybe Domri was the key, somehow.  
  


Domri frowned. “Or _future._ Ravnica. But I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like here.”  
  


If this wasn’t such a unusual situation, Maree would have told him there was nothing a feeling could prove, but he _was_ the one who had disappeared.

  
  


“I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I know someone from the Selesnya. A botanist. She can tell where these come from.”

Domri pulled a face when Maree mentioned the Selesnya. He looked like he was about to protest, so Maree went on.  
  


“Look, Domri, whatever this is, it’s amazing. She’ll probably try to convert us, yes, but she’ll help us figure out what’s really going on here.”  
  


That was enough to make the words die on Domri’s tongue, though he still pouted.  
  


“Alright, fine. We can tell people we’re going hunting and we’ll go see your friend. But I swear if they try and make me brush my hair-”

 

“You can punch them,” acquiesced Maree, “and I wouldn’t blame you.”

  
  


-

  
  


There was always someone in the Selsnya who thought they still had a chance of changing your mind. Maree felt lucky that the same person had still beeing trying to convert the Izzet after all these years.

The woman was old, at least by human standards, and met them in a grove of neaty trimmed poplar trees. She had set out tea and sandwiches.  
  


“Oh, Maree,” the old woman started, “It’s so nice to see you again. I see you’ve brought… A friend.”  
  


Domri scratched his neck and looked around as though he was planning an escape route. He had told Maree when they got here that the way the Selesnya set up their gardens all perfectly neat made him itchy. Maree sat down in the grass, but he stood awkwardly behind her, ready to flee at the first mention of wearing a shirt.  
  


“Hello, Svara, It’s nice to see you again.” Maree tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “I’ve actually brought you something interesting today. Some plants I’d like you to look at.”  
  


The old woman laughed. “How come you only come by when you want something from me? But you alway do bring me something interesting, dear. Go on.”  
  


Maree gestured at Domri, who stepped forward and emptied the bag of plants on the ground. Svara looked down at them with interest.

 

The longer she looked, the deeper the furrow in her brow became. She spent several minutes sorting plants. Eventually she looked up with a frown.  
  


“I’m sorry, dear, but these don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen. Where did you find them, exactly?”  
  


“They’re… The results of an experiment. And not the Simic kind, I mean. Do you think… They might be ancient?”

  
  


“Or from the future?” Domri chimed in.

  
  


Svara considered it for a moment and then shook her head, “I don’t think so. If they were from... Some other _time_ , or even if they were just some Simic experiment, they’d still be at least somewhat related to something we know. These are something entirely new.”

  
  


-

  
  


They excused themselves from the Selesyna settlement not long after that. Domri had gathered the plants back up and followed her outside into a street filled with vendors.  
  


“Um. Maree?” He called after her. “Are you okay?”  
  


She stopped in the street, and he nearly bumped into her.

“I’m fine, I guess. I’m just not sure what to think. Are _you_ okay? Gods, Domri, where did you _go?”_

 

“At this point I’m pretty sure it’s a whole ‘nother world. Like another Ravnica, but not.” He sounded surprisingly calm.

Maree raised a hand to her forehead. She felt like her brain was going to leak out of her ears. This was too much.

 

“I guess so. That’s the best explanation we have. I don't…” She sighed. “You know what, Domri? Let’s go get something to eat. On me.”

 

He picked out a stand that sold some of the most dubious meat she had ever seen and sat with her on a bench as she tried not to have a breakdown.  
  


Domri looked between her and the meat, unsure of how to react.  
  


After a couple of moments she cleared her throat.

“Sorry. It’s just. A lot to take in. I guess it must have been worse for you, huh?”  
  


He shrugged. “I dunno. I guess I didn’t really know what I was dealing with. Is it really such a big deal?”

She had to stop herself from reaching out and shaking him.

  
  


“Of course it’s a big deal! If there’s another world out there, who’s to say there aren’t more?”

Domri looked off to the side guiltily.  
  


“I think there are more, yeah. I mean, I _know_ there’s more than one. I’ve been to some of them before.”  
  


It really was too much.

  
  


She sighed and pressed the heels of her hands to her hands to her eyes. How was she supposed to go about this?

  
  


“Domri?”

“Hm?” He had a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth.

  
  


“Thank you for being honest with me about this. I guess I need to be honest with you too.”  
  


Domri finished with his food and gave her a sideways look.

“About?”

 

“About why I came here. Niv Mizzet sent me. To find you, I think. Although we didn’t know it at the time. All of this stuff with other planes of existence… He’s going to want to know.”

Domri looked like she had stabbed him.

 

“I thought… _Fuck_ , Maree, I thought you were one of us!  And now you’re gonna go back? After _everything_?”  
  


“I… No. I don’t know. I don’t feel right betraying him, but I don’t feel right betraying the Gruul either. If he knew… I don’t know what he’d turn the guild into if he knew.”

 

Domri frowned deeply but didn’t respond. Maree sighed again and looked up to catch his eye.  
  


“Listen. I know that this sounds really bad, but I haven't done anything yet. I don’t have to go back. You’re the one who’d get into the most trouble. I wouldn’t tell him anything you don’t want me to.”  
  


“Why would I want to tell him _anything_?”

  
  


“Because… Because he’s smart. He could figure out what’s going on better than anyone. And the guild has connections… If there’s someone else like you out there, someone who knows what you are, he’ll be able to find them.”

 

That last point was the one that made Domri’s expression shift from anger to consideration.

 

“I don’t… I don’t know.” He said, “Until I met you, I was sure that no one else would understand. Now I’m not even sure that _I_ do.”  
  


“I think if anyone could understand, it’s Niv Mizzet.” Maree lost her nerve and looked away form him.

“Look, Domri… I’m sorry. I didn’t go into this intending to betray anyone.”

 

He shook his head.

“Look, what you’ve done isn’t good, but I don’t know if it was the _wrong_ choice either. I’m still glad I met you, I think. And… I think you should tell him.”  
  


Domri smiled sadly at her surprise and went on, “The way I see it, if people are going to know about me and all of _this_ it might as well be the people who are going the hard thinking about it. Maybe that’s stupid. I don’t know.”

  
  


Maree raised a hand and put it on his shoulder.

“I don’t think I know, either. Thank you, Domri.”

  
  


-

  
  


She wrote up as many notes as she could on the trolley ride back to Nivix. They were messy and she was sure they were missing plenty of important information, but she knew she had to have something to show them. In between every page she pressed one of the plants that Domri had given her, complete with testimony from Svara on just how impossible they were.  
  


Domri still had confidence in her, even after she had revealed her lie, but she wasn’t sure if she was confident in herself. It would be so easy to lie to Niv Mizzet, say that she hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. When he got angry, she could back to the Rubblebelt and live with the Gruul and help Domri figure out these other worlds by herself.  
  


But what if some other Guildmage had found someone like Domri? And wouldn’t it be so much easier to figure out how he was able to go between worlds if she had access to her lab equipment?  
  


There was an old goblin proverb that warned against lying to dragons, unless you wanted to be eaten. It was very popular around Nivix.  
  


Maree finished scribbling another line of notes. She was already this far in, why stop now?

  
  


-  
  


And Niv Mizzet had believed her. He didn’t even ask to look at the plants, he just wanted to talk to the boy himself. She found herself terrified for Domri, and what Niv was going to do to him.  
  


If she hadn’t gone back she could have lived with the Gruul, and Niv Mizzet would have left her for dead. Now if she tried to back out, there was no doubt in her mind that he would come hunting for her.  
  


Well, Domri had trusted her this far, though she wasn’t sure that the trust was well placed anymore. She would try to bring him back… To Nivix, a place he was sure to hate more than any Selesnya settlement. He would talk with Niv Mizzet. And after that...

 

Maree sent out a prayer to whatever might be listening, that there would _be_ an after that.

  
  


-

  
  


Jace walked into the coffee shop and ordered his usual -- three creams, two sugars -- and the woman behind the counter winked and gave him a free bagel. He wrinkled his nose when she wasn’t looking. It had raisins, which meant he was going to give it to Ral. That had become something of their morning ritual. Only… Ral wasn’t there.  
  


Jace frowned. He was usually the first one here, sure, but he had come a little bit later today. Ral normally would have been here by now. With a sigh, he sat at their normal table.  
  


It probably had something to do with the ‘big report’ he was supposed to give, or something like that. Maybe now that he was done, he’d gotten caught up in more exciting research and stayed up too late.

 

 _Maybe_ _now that it’s done, he really doesn’t care about seeing you again._

Jace chastised himself for the thought, but as the minutes ticked by and there was no sign of Ral, it began to set in deeper. Eventually it was long past the time Jace usually left, and he knew he couldn’t wait around anymore.  
  


He was nervous, but he had to reason with himself. Ral had probably just slept in. Or gotten in a terrible accident. One of the two, probably. He threw the uneaten bagel away and headed for the door-  
  


-Only to have it opened in his face by one very tired and wild looking Ral Zarek.

  
  


Jace felt his shoulders relax. He hadn’t even realized how tense he was.

“Good morning, sleepyhead. Are you aware that it’s almost noon?”

  
  


Ral blinked and looked down at Jace as though he had just noticed him.

  
“You. Jace. Beleren.” Ral reached out and clamped his hands down on Jace’s shoulders. There was a wild look in his eyes. “We have a big _fucking problem.”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we get back to where we began. I didn't think I'd write this much about Domri and Maree, but here we are. Thanks for reading, everybody!


	4. Chapter 4

Ral had Jace him back into the coffee shop and sat him down at the normal table, much to the confusion of the lady at the counter. Every now and then, he looked around as though someone might be listening in on them.  
  


“Listen,” he started, leaning over the table. Jace could see the bags under his eyes very clearly.

“There’s this other guildmage. Her name is Maree. She… Found someone. Someone who told her everything.”  
  


It took Jace a moment to figure out what Ral was talking about, but when he did, he felt his blood run cold. He picked his words slowly.  
  


“How much is _everything_?”  
  


Ral rubbed his eyes.

“I don’t exactly know. But she went and announced the existence of planeswalkers to the whole guild. And get this: Niv Mizzet _believed her._ ”  
  


Somehow, that was not the part that surprised Jace. Niv Mizzet was an ancient dragon, after all; he supposed it only really made sense that _he_ would know. But…

 

“Okay. Calm down, Ral. It’s not the end of the world. Just because the guild knows doesn’t mean they know about _us._ We did a pretty good job of covering my trail, and I doubt they have any reason to suspect you. We’re fine.”  
  


Ral shook his head.

“We’re fine for _now._ Mizzet still suspects you, or else he wouldn’t have had me try to tail you at all. It’s only a matter of time before others start believing whoever it is Maree found and start trying to track us down.”  
  


Jace reached across the table to pat Ral’s hand as comfortingly as he could.

 

“Who knows how long it’ll be before that happens?” he reasoned. “ _If_ it happens at all.”  
  


Ral just scowled. No doubt the worries he had voiced were something he had stayed up at night thinking about a thousand times. Jace figured he couldn’t make them go away so easily.  
  


He sighed.

“Who did she find, anyway? Have you met them?”

Ral shook his head.

“I dunno. Some asshole named Domri. Never met him. But I intend to _now_.”

 

That was fairly easily to read as ‘meet, and then get in a fight with’ if he knew Ral as well as he thought. Whoever Domri was, Jace already felt pretty sure that fighting him wouldn’t solve much of anything. He shifted uncomfortably.  
  


“Well, don’t forget about what I can do. If we need to…”  
  


He trailed off as Ral shook his head.  
  


“If you mess around in their head, Niv will be able to tell something’s up. That will probably just make things worse. And that’s _besides_ the fact that messing around with other people's thoughts is shitty, anyway.”

 

Jace folded his arms defensively and looked from Ral to the table.  
  


“I’m just saying, try to remember that there are other options besides violence. What I can do may be a last choice, but it’s still a _choice_.”  
  


Ral nodded, but his expression revealed how unhappy he was with the idea.

 

“Just… At least try talking to him first,” Jace offered, “and if things go bad, we can meet here and figure out what to do about it tomorrow morning.”

 

Ral was silent for a long moment, running a hand through his hair before nodding.

“Fine,” he said, “deal.”

  
  


-  
  


Domri Rade had obviously never had to stay in a hotel before.  
  


Maree sighed as she looked around the room he had somehow managed to trash completely. The saddest thing was that he probably hadn’t even _meant_ to make a mess -- he was just too curious for his own good.  
  


She didn’t even want to ask how he got the birds in here, much less how he had convinced them to _stay_.  
  


Domri tensed and sat up from his comfortable position on the pile of blankets when she walked into the room.

 

“So,” he started with a waver of nervousness in his voice, “how did it go?”  
  


She scratched her cheek.  
  


“Well… He believed me. Believed you, I mean. He wants to talk to you.”  
  


“Oh. Well, alright.”

Domri slid off of his pile of blankets until he was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her.

“When?”  
  


“Whenever you’re ready, I suppose. You still have time to back out, you know.”  
  


“I’ve seen dragons bigger and meaner than Niv Mizzet. I think I’ll be fine.”  
  


Maree resisted the urge to doubt him. If there were other planes of existence with other dragons, then maybe he really had seen a dragon bigger than Niv.  
  


“Well… I’d bet you’ve never met a dragon _smarter_ than him. Please just be careful about what you say.”

 

“Well, smart is the reason we’re talking to him, right?” He shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

  
  


-

 

Ral walked into Nivix just in time to see _the_ Domri Rade himself climb onto the back of a chair so that he was closer to Niv Mizzet’s eye-level.

 

He had to stop himself from looking too surprised. This guy, the Domri Rade who had ruined everything he had worked so hard to hide, was a _kid_. He was certainly looking at Niv Mizzet with a level of confidence that only a teenager could muster.  
  


Ral felt a sick feeling sink into his heart. He couldn’t have been much older than that when he had planeswalked for the first time. No _shit_ Domri didn’t know how revealing what he was could be dangerous; he probably only had a vague idea about what he was at all. At least there was some hope that he wouldn’t be able to tell Niv what he wanted to know.  
  


“So… Hi,” started Domri. “You wanted to talk to me?”  
  


If he didn’t know any better, Ral would have guessed that Domri was a new Guildmage who had gotten in trouble. But, unlike those situations, Niv made a sound that could only be described as a chuckle.  
  


“No need for the formalities. I’m just here to ask you some questions, and then you can be on your way.”

 

“Well, alright,” said Domri, sounding only moderately surprised. “Go for it.”  
  


“So, you claim to go to other planes of existence. Tell me about those.”  
  


Domri tilted his head.

“I mean, that’s a pretty broad question. They’re like whole other Ravnicas, you know? Except they have trees instead of buildings. Or no trees at all. I mean, they’re all different.”

He paused to consider something. “I’ve seen elves with hooves and horns, you know.”  
  


“I see…” said Niv, “and how, exactly, do you travel between these planes?”  
  


That took Domri a minute to consider.

“I guess I just.. Think about being somewhere else really hard. And then I’m there.”  
  


Ah, _there_ was the annoyed Niv Mizzet that Ral knew so well. Smoke wafted out of his nostrils and out through the vents in the ceiling.

 

“But _how_? What mechanism allows you to leave this plane and go to another?”  
  


“I… Don’t know,” said Domri, already tensed up and ready to run. “What allows you to breathe fire?”  
  


Across the room, Ral only just stopped himself from yelling by kicking a powered-down construct. This wasn’t very unusual for him, so he didn’t attract too much attention.  
  


“I have an organ that allows me to breathe fire. Are you claiming to have something physical inside you that allows you to planeswalk?”  
  


“Oh,” said Domri, “no. It’s like a feeling inside.”

He pointed at his chest. “It must be some kind of magic, I think. Like if everyone was a pancake being cooked in a pan, you get to be the one that the spatula unsticks from the bottom.”  
  


The dragon snorted, obviously unhappy with the answer.

“Alright,” said Niv slowly, “how about this one? Have you met anyone else like you? Any other planeswalkers?”  
  


There was something about his tone that made Ral tense up. Niv was asking after someone specific.  
  


Domri just frowned.

“No. I was hoping _you_ had. That’s part of the reason I came.”  
  


Something about his tone of voice was enough to soften Niv. If Domri had been in the guild, he would have no doubt gotten a spiel about how he was a failure. Instead, Niv lowered his head to sit on his claws.  
  


“I’m going to level with you.” The dragon was speaking to Domri, but everyone in the room quieted down to listen.

“I was previously aware of the existence of planeswalkers. When the old Guildpact was instated, it prevented their arrival or exit from this world. I have been watching to see if the new one would do the same. Obviously it does not.”  
  


Domri leaned forward, only barely keeping balance on the edge of the chair.

“So you _do_ know about other people like me.”

 

Niv blinked slowly.

“I _did_ know people like you, but that was a very long time ago. You are the first living person of your kind I have met in over one thousand years.”  
  


“Oh,” Domri sighed. “Well I guess they’d be pretty old, then. Or dead.”  
  


“Probably dead,” Niv Mizzet agreed.  
  


Domri nodded. There was a long moment of silence before either of them spoke again. In the back of the room, Ral shifted nervously from foot to foot.

 

Finally, Domri looked up with a serious expression.  
  


“So, what do you want me to do for you, then? I already got that you didn’t just get me to come here to have me answer questions.”  
  


Niv gave a toothy smile.

“Ha. Smart boy. Yes, I have three things that I’d like to ask of you.”  
  


“Whoa, whoa. Three is a lot of things. I should probably get compensated somehow, you know. It’s only fair.”  
  


Maree, who was standing a little ways off to the side of him, made a small, panicked noise. If you talked to the dragon like that, one of two things happened: either he burned you to a crisp, or…  
  


“And look, the kid is pragmatic, too. Look -- I’m a dragon, with all that entails. I have a hoard, and the whole of the Izzet to back me in whatever I need. I’m sure we could get you anything you want.”  
  


Domri tilted his head.

“Well, mostly I just want to know what’s going on. And a nice rack of ribs, I guess.”  
  


“The things I’m going to ask of you are all _about_ figuring out what’s going on. And the food is simple enough to provide.”

“Then I guess you should tell me what you want me to do.”  
  


“Well, then, the first thing I’m going to ask is that you go to the medical bay and get yourself checked up on. If there really is some sort of organ in you that lets you do this, I think we can pick up on it.”  
  


Domri gaped at Niv and then looked down at Maree. He really wasn’t a fan of anyone who called themselves a doctor.

But the pained expression on her face told him all he needed to know. It was too late. They were going to take his _blood pressure._  
  


“Fine,” he said with a pout. “The other two?”  
  


“When you’re done with that, I’d like you to come back here and planeswalk away. You can go wherever you want, I just need to be watching.”  
  


“Easy enough.”  
  


“My last request is simply to lead any others like yourself you may find in your travels back to me.”  
  


“That all?”  
  


Another puff of smoke rose up to the ceiling, but Niv Mizzet concealed any annoyance he had beyond that.

 

“Yes, that is all. Now go.”  
  


With that, Domri jumped off of the chairs. From his spot in the room, Ral could only guess at what he was saying to Maree, but he didn’t look to happy about it.  
  


He followed behind them as Maree led him towards the medical bay. This was probably as good a chance to talk to him as any.  
  


Apparently, “non-necessary” personnel were being kept out for the occasion. Maree was standing in front of the door, nervously rubbing her hands together.  
  


Ral didn’t particularly feel like dealing with her, so he just walked by, hoping to be through the door before she could react.

He had no such luck -- she grabbed him by the shoulder, earning herself a nasty shock in the process.  
  


That wasn’t enough to stop her, though.

“Zarek? What are you doing? You can’t go in there!”

 

Ral turned to glare at her.

“I’m going to talk to him. You going to do anything about it?”  
  


She stiffened up and looked between him and the direction of Niv Mizzet’s perch. _She_ couldn’t do anything about it, but the dragon might not take kindly to her tattling like a child. Heat rose to her face.  
  


“You and every other member of the _League_ want to talk to him. Why should you get special treatment?”  
  


Ral sighed and turned to look at her.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. I’m going in whether you let me or not.”  
  


It sounded too tired to come off as a threat, but she still instinctively took a step back.  
  


“Well, I’m not going to let you.”  
  


He rolled his eyes.

“Fine.”  
  


In one swift movement, he took a step to the side and punched the plate glass that protected one of the many fire extinguishers around the compound. The glass left long scratches up his arm up to the elbow. _Ouch._

It was perhaps not his most well thought out plan, but it would do.

 

He waved the injured arm in front of her.

“Can I go in _now?”_  
  


Maree looked at him with a horrified expression on her face. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and pushed through the door.

 

Wow, that was… A lot of blood. He _probably_ could have thought that plan through a little more.

 

The reception area was mostly empty, which was fine by him. Ral had come down here only to be made to do first aid on himself plenty of times.  
  


First priority was to duck into an empty examination room and patch himself up enough that he wasn’t trailing blood on the floor behind him. One long strip of gauze and a bandage later, and he was sneaking down the hallway.  
  


It wasn’t  too long before he was leaning in a doorway listening to two doctors discuss how _maybe his heart rate was a little high, but he really doesn’t seem to like doctors, so that’s just consistent with stress-_  
  


Their voices echoed further down the hallway until there was silence. Well, he wasn’t going to get a better chance than this, would he?  
  


Down the hallway, through the door, and there he was. Domri Rade, alone on a cot, looking bored and picking at the threads of the sheet.  
  


He looked up at Ral, unimpressed.

“Are you the guy that’s supposed to take my blood? Because I can get it out myself. I’ll bite you if you come near me with one of those needles.”  
  


“What?” said Ral. “No. I’m just here to talk.”  
  


Domri tilted his head, annoyance and curiosity warring on his face.

“I’ve already done a lot of talking today. What do you want?”  
  


Ral scratched his chin. How should he approach a Gruul kid with a bad attitude and the capability of making things very difficult for him?  
  


“I just want to warn you. You shouldn't go around giving Niv all the information he wants, alright?”  
  


That wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t have satisfied him if he were in Domri’s place, either.  
  


“Why?”

 

Ral gave him a sidelong glance.

“I don’t know how much Maree told you about the way things work around here, but the dragon is liable to get obsessed about… All this. People like you. The more you tell him, the more he’ll want to know. It’s going to put some people in real danger.”

 

Domri leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees and fixing Ral with an intense stare. There was a long moment where neither of them said anything. Then Domri leaned back with a smug expression on his face.

  
  


“If you’re worried about him finding you out, don’t worry. I promise to not tell him.”

 

Ral mechanically opened his mouth and then shut it again. How the hell was he supposed to react to that?  
  


Domri reached up to scratch his cheek, suddenly a lot less tense. He had the upper hand in this conversation, and he knew it.

 

Ral sighed. How had he messed things up this badly?

“Well, thank you, I guess. The point I was trying to make was that you don’t know the dragon like I do. If he finds enough people like us, it’s only a matter of time before people start dying so he can figure out how to do what we do. It’s bad news.”  
  


Domri frowned.

“And I guess he’d be mad at you for hiding from him, too, huh?”

 

Ral’s mouth went dry. Stupid perceptive kid.

“Yeah. Probably.”  
  


“Well… Don’t worry about any crap from me. I’m good at keeping secrets. But Miss Maree said he was smart, and I figured we need smart to figure out-” he paused to tap his chest “-this.”  
  


Ral raised an eyebrow.

“Your spark?”  
  


“My- Yeah. I guess that’s a good word for it. My spark.”  
  


Domri looked down at his crossed legs and bit his bottom lip. Then he jerked his head up to look Ral in the eye.  
  


“Look I’ve never- I mean, I’ve never met anyone else like me before. And you seem like you know what you’re doing, and I have questions-”  
  


He was cut off by the sound of one of the doctors coming down the hall. Ral froze in place. He did _not_ want to be caught in here. It was bad enough that the kid knew; if Niv found out he had snuck in here to talk to Domri, he would be labeled suspect number one.

 

“Shit, kid. I- Maybe? Maybe later. I need to go.”

 

No windows, only one door, and he was so shit at invisibility spells that he had no doubt that anyone would be able to see through them if they were close.

 

Well, _fuck_. The kid had him figured out, didn’t he? It was his most convenient way out, and certainly the one with the least chance of him getting caught.  
  


With a curse under his breath, Ral took a step back and Walked.

-

Domri had gone off to a plane of his own by the time Ral had managed to find his way back home.  
  


He sighed as he unlocked the door to his spire. At least he had already gotten a lot of the people who would be collateral damage off plane.

 

Normally he would have loved to bury his thoughts in research, but there was too much to consider.  
  


He had bailed out on the kid when he had started asking questions. And that revelation still stung -- he was just a _kid_. If Ral had had someone to answer his questions after the first time he had Walked, chances were things would have turned out a lot differently for him.  
  


There was no small amount of jealousy, either. He had always assumed that the Izzet wouldn't understand -- that Niv wouldn't understand. Most of them still didn’t seem to, but he had yet to see the derision he had been expecting.  
  


Niv had said himself that he had met planeswalkers before. Before the first Guildpact. He idly wondered if the dragon had any sort of obsession with them back then.  
  


If he had, it had been lost to time.  
  


Ral could see it now. Before too long, Niv would have the whole guild set on finding a way to traverse the planes. People would fling themselves into the Blind Eternities and die horrible deaths, and all the while Niv Mizzet would grow more and more angry at the planeswalkers who could do it so easily.  
  


He sighed and pulled a pillow over his face. How had things gone so wrong?

  
  


-

  
  


Ral obviously hadn’t slept well.  
  


He was there at the usual time, at least, but instead of greeting Jace, he walked in, took the bagel that Jace offered him, and put his head on the table without a word.  
  


Jace took a long drink of coffee before trying to broach the subject.

 

“I take it things didn’t go well?”  
  


Ral looked up with him with one baleful eye.

 

“Well, Jace,” Ral’s voice was muffled by his arm, “as a matter of fact, we’re fucked.”  
  


Jace took another sip as calmly as he would muster. “How so?”

 

Ral lay there for a moment longer before sitting up, his elbow on the counter and his cheek smushed against his hand as he tried to maintain balance.  
  


“The mysterious ‘Domri Rade’ is some teenaged kid who didn’t know better than to tell Niv Mizzet everything. And when I went to go talk to him I gave him blackmail on me. And this one’s just an office rumor, but I think you and the other Lightning Bugs are supposed to have people sent after them again.”  
  


“Wow,” said Jace. “Yeah. That’s bad. We’re both okay for the time being though, right?”  
  


Ral rolled his eyes. Jace could just barely see where they were becoming bloodshot.  
  


“Only for now. You’re going to be in danger every time you Walk from now on, and it's only a matter of time before he asks me to do something related to planeswalking. How am I supposed to explain why I’m the only one who can succeed at something like that without giving it all away?”  
  


Jace licked his lips, which were suddenly starting to feel chapped.

“Well… In my case, I think even if he _does_ figure it out, there’s some sort of law I can use to pressure him into not telling everyone. It… Will give him more leverage over the Guildpact than he should have, but it’s not a disaster.”

“And when he figures me out, I’m going to be out out of the Guild at _best_.”

Ral had to stop himself from laughing, because he was so tired that he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stop himself and it would turn to tears.

“I bet he’ll want to test if eating a planeswalker will give him their spark.”  
  


Jace reached over the table to rest his hand on Ral’s shoulder. At his touch, Ral collapsed onto the table again with a groan.

 

“Pardon my language,” said Ral into the table, “but we’re in a bit of a pickle.”

  
“We are,” Jace agreed, “but if you're willing, I might have a fallback plan.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that the notes from the first chapter stick around so i don't technically need to thank snoot every time. I still will (thank u snoot) but I'm also going to start using this space to tell you about the lives of the people who work at the coffee shop Ral and Jace go to. Stay tuned.


	5. Chapter 5

The mud squelched up between Domri’s toes. In most respects it was absolutely identical to Ravican mud, but the smell that rose from it smelled too much like leaf litter and too little of sewage to be something from the city. Domri wiggled his toes and grinned.

 

He was in a forest again. He wasn’t sure if it was the same one he had visited before or not, but about six minutes into his trip he found the tracks of some animal with feet about as big as he was tall and he found himself eager to track it down. He skirted around a patch of something spiky - should he bring some of that back? No one had seemed too impressed with the plants but that old Selesnyan.

  


He froze in place as he heard a low howl echo through the woods. Was _that_ the thing he was following? His heart started beating faster. He didn't know, but he wanted to find out.  


Domri had no idea how long he spent running down that animal track, but by the time he stopped, panting for breath, it had started to get dark. It would be far too easy to just stay here and live in the woods and never go back to Ravnica. He used to consider it far more seriously. No one would have missed him.  


And then Maree showed up, and suddenly he was responsible for what felt like _everything_. It sort of made him want to go back even less, but then Maree would get in trouble, and that guy that broke into the doctor’s room to see him would get eaten or else come to find him and chew him out. Domri crunched a leaf under his foot. He wasn’t used to having people depend on him for things. Even the _dragon_ needed him.  


He shivered and squinted his eyes against the dark. Domri still didn’t know how time worked between the planes, but he figured he should be going back soon. He knelt down and messed up the leaf litter with his hands. He didn’t find another planeswalker here, and he really didn't have much information at all besides that this place had big trees and big animals. He probably wouldn’t be able to bring back either of those with him.  


Then, suddenly and without warning, there was a soft _pop_ and _whoosh_ of air as something, no, _someone_ appeared in the air not thirty yards from where Domri was kneeling. He looked like a Rakdos demon, complete with the horns and wings, but the expression on his face hinted that he was probably much smarter. Everything about him was pitch black, from eyes to tail, and he would have actually been very hard to see if not for the fire he held in his own hand to light the way.  


Everything about him had Domri on edge, especially the way his eyes immediately snapped to look at him.

Still, Domri couldn't help but give a low whistle.  


“I didn’t think I’d find another one so soon.”  


The demon-man had a voice like rocks scraping together and it made Domri’s skin crawl.

 

“Another what?”  


Domri could tell immediately. This was no friendly conversation. This guy was the predator, he was the prey.  


“Another planeswalker.” Domri gestured into the air at nothing. “I’m supposed to be looking for them. Us, I mean.”  


The demon looked at him without changing expression and Domri unconsciously took a step backwards.  


“You know of other planeswalkers?”  


Domri took another step backwards.

“Uh. Sort of? Look you should- You ever heard of Ravnica? You should go there. There’s this big dragon named Niv Mizzet and he wants to talk to people like us.”  


The demon didn’t move. Didn’t even blink. Domri’s mouth was so dry he didn’t think he could say anything else. He had overstayed his welcome. He Walked away before it could go any more wrong.

 

Now alone in the woods, Ob Nixilis allowed himself to chuckle. It was wise of the boy to run away when he had, but very, very unwise to say where he could be found. Perhaps he ought to pay a visit to this ‘Ravnica’.

-

Ral Zarek brought his fingers to rub his temples for the upteenth time this conversatoin.

“Beleren if you think I’m going to agree to this you’re even more dumb than I thought.”  


“Dumber” Jace corrected, and then sighed, “Look I’m not going to force you to do any of this. I just thought I might be able to help”  


The backup plan that Jace had presented was, obviously, not Ral’s favorite. It involved Jace carefully removing the memories Ral had of being a planeswalker and stitching his memories back together so that Ral would never realize he had lost them.

 

Just until it wasn’t dangerous, Jace insisted, and then he’d put them right back.  


As far as Ral was concerned, it was the worst plan he had ever heard for anything in his entire life and to be frank he was upset that they even had to consider it as an option at all.

 

Ral rubbed his eyes. He was already so tired of this. Jace cast a sidelong glance at him and then waved at the barista to bring another cup of coffee. They were the only ones in the cafe, apart from her, and had been for over an hour.  


“Just… If Niv asks you to do anything too fishy, keep it in mind, alright?” Ral moved his hands to look at Jace, obviously unhappy. “It’s up to you,” Jace conceded. “You’re the one in trouble, not me.”  


Ral felt a pang of guilt. Jace had to know that wasn’t true. Ral was in the most _immediate_ danger, but if he got caught, Jace would be under suspicion and Ral probably wouldn’t be able to do anything to help him at all.  


“Just… Keep it in mind,” Jace went on, losing steam. “Maybe clean anything out of your room that might remind you of another plane. I can hang on to those, too. If you want.”  


They both went quiet as the barista brought another mug of coffee over to Jace. He slid it over to Ral, who accepted it with a thankful nod. He took a long drink and then sighed.

 

“You know you’re going to have to tip her like. A _lot_ , right?”

“I know.”  


Ral set the mug down with a quiet _clink_.

“There’s another issue, you know.”

 

“Well will you let me help with that one? Or do you just want me to know?”  


Jace was frustrated with him. It was probably only fair, but Ral couldn’t bring himself to look at him at the moment.”

 

“Well you’re involved, so I’m guessing you’ll have to do something.”

Jace’s eyebrows shot up but immediately furrowed back down as Ral continued.  


“I… don’t think we should see each other anymore. Or... Be seen together anymore, I guess.”

 

Jace frowned and took a breath to reply, but Ral cut him off with a shake of his head.  


“It would be one thing if I was tailing you or something, but if anyone back at the guild realizes we’ve just been sitting here having-” he waved a hand around “friendly conversations then there’s gonna be trouble. _Especially_ if I get caught.”  


The look of disappointment on Jace’s face made Ral feel something that he decided he was going to just ignore for now. Or maybe forever.

 

“I thought the whole point was to not get caught? And trouble hasn’t stopped you this far.”

 

“Well getting _you_ in trouble does.”

Ok. Nope. Moving right past the fact that he had said that and pretending it had never happened.

“If I get in trouble I know how to find you. But I’ll be fine.”  


Jace looked down at the table and Ral found himself at a loss for what to do. He wasn’t really happy about it either but he wasn’t sure how Jace could argue that point.

 

“What if… I need _your_ help?”

Ral bit back his initial reply of _what could you possibly need_ my _help with_. He could already think of at least one overly dramatic scenario that would involve him swooping in to save Jace. Except based on what he had just said, Jace contacting him through the usual channels in Nivix was off limits  


Ral shrugged. “Don’t you have telepathy? You don't even have to be in the building to find me that way, right?”

 

Jace crossed his arms but refused to look up from the table.

“I can try, but there’s no guarantee I can find you out of everyone. Especially not if it’s an emergency.”

 

A younger version of Ral would have told Jace that he was out of luck. The current version of Ral pressed the heel of his palm into his eye and sighed.

“So what else is there? You’re not exactly going to be able to sneak into Nivix to find me.”

 

“Don’t underestimate me,” Jace said with a small smile - probably the first Ral had seen this whole conversation. “At least knowing where to look would be helpful. Whether I end up using telepathy or not.”  


Ral scratched his chin - it had been too long since he had shaved it last, but he had more important things to worry about.  


“My rooms are in the easternmost tower in Nivix. Top floor. It's not exactly easy to get up there unnoticed.”

 

“I can manage, if I have to.”

Ral raised an eyebrow but made no comment. Jace went on.

 

“I also think we should have some sort of signal to meet back here. If something goes wrong.”

Ral was tempted to argue that Jace was pushing it, but deep down he felt like something probably _would_ go wrong. Better to have it and not use it…  


“It should be something simple. Just a phrase or something, and if we hear it or get it on a note or something we’ll know to meet back here.”  


Ral looked around the building.

“Here? You sure?”  


Jace shrugged. “It’s just as good as anywhere else. As far as I can tell, the only people who know that we come here are the employees.”  


“Fine,” Ral agreed. “Whatever. What phrase?”

At least Jace seemed to have perked up at the idea of secret passwords and conspiracies.  


“Something simple, but that can’t be easily mistaken. What about ‘you need to pick up your order from the shop?”  


Ral blinked slowly. Somehow he got the feeling this was something Jace thought about a lot. He didn’t really have the heart to tell him that the whole idea felt ridiculous. Instead he deadpanned, “Sure. I guess that works.”  


Jace looked surprised, like he was expecting more of an argument.

“Well, I guess it is.”  


Ral nodded and finished the last of his... Fifth, maybe sixth cup of coffee? An awkward silence fell between them.  


Eventually Ral cleared his throat and cast a glance from the door back to Jace.

“So… This is it then.”

 

Jace cleared his throat. He looked uncomfortable again.

“I guess so.”  


Ral hesitated a moment and then held out his hand. Jace reached out and took it in something that was more of a hold than a shake.  


“Talk to you later, I guess? Or not. Talk to you when this all blows over?”

 

Jace smiled, and Ral decided he was imagining any sadness he saw there.

“Yeah. Later. And Ral?”  


“Yeah?”  


“Please just… Keep my offer in mind. And be careful.”

-  


Maree’s work room was not particularly well organized, but Domri Rade still sat nervously on the end of a lab bench, too nervous to touch anything. He sort of wished he had a big fur blanket to wrap himself up in right now, or a big heavy axe, just to have a comfortable weight in his hand.

 

The moment he had showed back up, she had ushered him away from the bustle of Nivix into her room and sat him down. At the moment, she was digging through desk drawers looking for a pen. He watched her in silence as she triumphantly pulled one out of the bottom drawer and turned to him.

 

“So, how was your trip?”

He scratched the back of his head, unsure how to reply.

“It was… Okay? I guess.”  


She started writing onto a pad of paper and he frowned.

“Could you not do… That?” He said, waving his arm at her. She looked up at him for a moment and froze, then sighed and set her utensils aside.

 

“What’s wrong, Domri?”  


He hunched his shoulders and his eyes darted to the side.

“No problem. I mean not really. I just. Thought I’d know more by now.”

 

She sighed and reached out to pat him on the knee. “You thought Niv would just be able to tell you everything, right?”  


Domri gripped the edge of the table and didn't reply, so Maree went on.

“A lot of people come here thinking that he knows everything. He doesn’t. At least not yet; I think he can figure out anything given enough time. You have to do some testing to draw any conclusions.”  


“I don’t really know what you’re saying,” said Domri, finally looking up from the floor, “but I’ve already met some other planeswalkers and they were real unhelpful. So my conclusion thus far is that other planeswalkers suck.”  


Maree sat up straight at that comment.

“You’ve already met others? How many? Do you think they’ll show up here.”  


Domri held up two fingers.

“I can’t really say for the first guy, but I really hope that the other one doesn't. He’s bad news.”

Maree reached for her pad of paper and then thought better of it.  


“Two is a pretty small sample size. If- I mean if you’ve already met two, then I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until you find someone who really knows what they’re talking about.”

 

Dormi leaned back until he was laying on the table.

“Maybe. But right now I really just want to go home and sleep in the dog pit and not have to think about it for a few years.”  


Maree finally gave in and picked up her pen and paper.

“Well, I’m sure you can get a break for at least a little while. This is already a lot to report.”

She stopped writing and looked up at him.

“Domri, are you okay? Do you want some.. Hot chocolate or... Something?”  


He rolled off the table and landed on his feet.

“I dunno.”  


She tilted her head and her mouth became a thin frown.

“Can you at least tell me about them? What did they look like?”

 

Domri shrugged.

“One of them was this big demon. Wings and a tail and sort of on fire. The other was just some guy.”  


He started walking towards the door, Maree watched him, unsure of what to do.

“Where are you going? I... I need to-”  


“You’ve got enough to start a report, right?  I think I need to go talk to someone. I’ll be right back.”  


He didn’t wait for a response and slid out the door. The man who had found him in the hospital was probably a lot less likely to kill him than the demon he met in the woods, and he had been dressed like he was in the Izzet, so he knew where to start looking.

  
He wanted answers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may have been months since I posted the last chapter, and It may be months until i post the next (hopefully not) but I do intend to finish this.
> 
> Thank snoot, as always. May we bask in their holy light.


	6. Chapter 6

Domri found himself in a part of Nivix that most of the Izzet had seemed keen on avoiding.

This was, supposedly, where the planeswalker who had found him in the infirmary was, or as Domri had described him, the “tall guy with the gray streaks in his hair who looked like he needed a nap.”

That apparently described about a quarter of the guildmages who worked for the Izzet and sent him on a wild roc chase around most of the facility until he had found himself here, in the easternmost tower, outside a door with a lock on it that looked like it might shock him to death if he messed with it.  
  


He pounded on the door and then, without really waiting for a response from the other side, kicked it for good measure. Something that sounded like muffled cursing could be heard from the other side, followed by, “Cut that shit out! I’m _coming_.”  
  


The locks clicked and the door slid open to reveal a rather harried looking Ral Zarek. Whatever he had been about to say died on his lips when he saw that the person at his door was not some co-worker, but Domri Rade.  
  


Domri smiled and waved in a way that he hoped was charming and that didn’t bely how nervous he really was.  
  


Ral blinked.

“Um,” he said, “Fuck. Hey. What do you need?”  
  


“Hi!” Domri chirped. “I want to talk.”  
  


Ral poked his head out into the hallway to look for anyone who might have followed Domri, but the boy seemed to have avoided that all on his own.  
  


“Alright,” Ral said slowly, opening the door. “Come in, I guess. Don’t touch anything.”  
  


Domri slipped in and Ral bolted the door behind him. By the time he turned around, Domri had hoisted himself onto a table and was looking at the various bits of machinery that littered the room with bright-eyed interest.  
  


Despite Ral’s warnings, he had picked up a loose spring and was squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger. Before Ral could reprimand him, Domri had pinched the skin of his fingers in between the coil and let let the spring go flying with a sharp intake of breath.  
  


Ral pinched the bridge of his nose. Figure out what the kid who could ruin your life wanted _before_ yelling at him. He looked up at Domri, who had pulled his legs under himself in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position.  
  


“So…” Domri started uncertainly, “what was it like for you when you found out you were a planeswalker?”

-  
  


Within moments of his arrival, Ob Nixilis had decided that this plane needed to be destroyed. It was far too loud, far too _lively_ for his taste.  
  


Interestingly, though his presence seemed to make the people in the street below him nervous, it did not incite anything stronger. He had seen panic, disgust, hell even _excitement_ , but the biggest reaction he could see were people who caught sight of him and decided that they were going to take a different route today.

 

He supposed that meant that demons weren’t terribly uncommon, then. That was good. That would certainly make his job easier.  
  


Ob winged himself up to a higher vantage point to survey the plane, crouching on a building like one of so many gargoyles. The whole plane was a city, as far as he could see from here. It was vast and teeming with more life than he had seen in one place in a long while.  
  


He could ensure that would not be the case much longer.  
  


As far as he could tell, Ravnica only had a few hard separations between districts. Most of the city just bled out from one part to another, but one area caught his eye. Even from this distance he could see that the spaces between buildings were strung not with clotheslines, but with spiked chains. The boy had told him to speak with someone called Niv Mizzet, but Ob had already decided he had more important things to do with his time.  
  


His descent to the streets below was greeted with surprisingly little fuss, though the people who he landed near parted, leaving him plenty of room to wander on his own.

He did catch more than one sideways glance from an onlooker - normally, of course, he would make a game out of twisting their skull off of their bodies, but experience had taught him that making a scene too early would only hurt his plans.  
  


To destroy a plane of this size he would have to have help, loathe as he was to admit it.  
  


Ob Nixilis paused to consider some graffiti scrawled on the walls: an image of a horned mask, messages of _hail Rakdos, down with Azorius_. He didn’t know if Rakdos was a gang leader or a god, but from what he had seen so far, he might not be a bad place to start.  
  


-

 

Maree had started worrying about Domri after only an hour.  
  


He had been upset when he had left and given her very little to give to Niv Mizzet.

She looked down at her notes. He had met two other planeswalkers, and one of them had been some kind of demon.  
  


She supposed that helped answer the question of _who_ could become a planeswalker, but, then again, she suspected that her guildmaster already knew such things. But the whole thing sat uneasy with her.

 

Domri had encountered a demon and through he didn’t seem physically injured, he certainly didn’t seem _okay_. She was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. Domri could have easily just left, gone back to the wastes or to any other plane of existence, and she hadn’t tried to help him at all.  
  


She stood up and pushed her chair under her desk with a sigh. Maybe it wasn’t too late to find him.  
  


Maree made her way down to the floor of her spire. Here, the cleaning was supervised by an old model of weird that had long lost its ability to speak. Asking where Domri went earned her a jerky gesture towards the main hall.

 

After a few questions down there she learned that Domri had apparently been looking for someone _in_ Nivix, who was _this_ tall and had streaks of white in his hair. That description could be about pretty much anyone in Nivix, but she had a sneaking suspicion she knew who Domri had meant.

A helpful young guildmage aspirant confirmed to her that, yes, she had see the boy go that way - that way being up the stairs of a different spire. The spire where Ral Zarek had his room.  
  


She stood outside his door, ready to knock, but she hesitated. She had never asked Domri what Ral had broken into the hospital to say to him and she hadn’t seen Ral since.

She wasn’t particularly good friends with Ral, either, and had no idea what she could have said to Domri to make him want to come to _him_ of all people when he wanted answers.

 

Except…Maybe she _did_ know. Domri had said he had met two planeswalkers, and one of them had been _just some guy_.

Could Zarek be the other planeswalker?

For every reason it seemed to make sense, she could think of two more that it didn’t. It would be borderline treasonous for a guild member to know about a whole _multiverse_ and never mention it, and it seemed unlikely that Ral, being the hound for glory that he was, would never have brought it up.  
  


Uncertainty gripped her gut. Maybe he had just tricked Domri and was feeding more nonsense to him as she waited out here. She couldn't even be sure that she would find them in there.

 

Well, only one way to find out.  
  


Maree knocked.

 

After a minute of tense silence she heard the locks on the door shifting, and then it opened just enough for Ral Zarek’s annoyed face to slide out.

“What. Is it.”  
  


Maree crossed her arms in an attempt to hide her nervousness.

“I know Domri is in there, Zarek.”  
  


He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah? And?”  
  


“And I want to talk to him.”

 

“What if he doesn't want to talk to you?”

 

Ral always knew how to strike a nerve, that was for certain. What, was he in there badmouthing her to Domri? She wouldn’t put it past him.  
  


She tried to keep her calm as best she could.

“Be reasonable. I just want to see him.”  
  


“Then do it later. I’m busy.”  
  


Maree gritted her teeth. She really did want to punch Ral Zarek in his smug face sometimes.

“Zarek, I swear, if you don’t let me see him-”  
  


“What are you gonna do, tell Niv Mizzet on me?”  
  


“I- I’ll tell him and the rest of the guild you’re a planeswalker.”  
  


It was a shot in the dark and would have made her feel like a fool if Ral’s reaction hadn’t been to panic. His face _fell_ in a way that, while very satisfying, also made her worry. He looked around the hallway- thankfully empty - cursed, and then reached out, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her inside.  
  


Domri was there, looking surprised as Ral was saying, “I thought you said you knew how to keep a secret? _Fuck_ , kid, do you understand-”

 

“I didn't tell anyone anything!” he protested.  
  


Maree stood there stunned as Ral locked the door behind her. She had gotten it right, and suddenly things started to make sense.  
  


“You _are_ the other planeswalker?”

 

Ral froze, now having realized that no one had incriminated him but himself.

“You… You sabotaged Lightning Bug, didn’t you? You were afraid of getting _caught_. You know how huge this is, don’t you? You-”  
  


He held up a hand, “I _know_ what I did.”  
  


“But why? Why not expose this _years_ ago?”

 

Ral let out a short, bitter laugh. “I tried. Got called a fool and almost lost my chance at joining the guild.”

 

That gave Maree pause. She certainly didn’t believe in other planes when Domri had first spoken to her about them. She looked over at Domri, who was perched on the edge of a chair and watching their argument tensely.

 

Ral was staring at some spot on the wall with a blank expression.

“You know as well as I do what’s gonna start happening once Niv finds enough of us. With a big enough sample size, he’ll have no problem dissecting a few of us.”  
  


Maree found herself starting to feel sorry for him. “And the one who messed with Izzet research would be the first to go.”  
  


Ral nodded, and for a moment the room was silent.  
  


Then Domri leaned back onto his seat.

“Why don’t you just leave? I mean, there’s a whole multiverse to explore! It’s not like he can follow you.”  
  


That made Ral wince. Maree suspected he had considered it before.  
  


“It’s not that easy. This is my home.”  
  


Domri nodded, looking thoughtful. He was probably homesick himself, Maree realized.  
  


Ral suddenly turned to give her a sharp look.

“What do I have to do to keep you from telling everyone?”

 

Maree’s shoulders fell. He sounded so desperate, and while she was upset about Lightning Bug, she felt almost certain that the trouble that would come along with revealing him wouldn’t be worth it.  
  


“I won’t say anything. I don’t really feel like getting electrocuted. But you know it’s only a matter of time until Niv guesses it himself, right?”  
  


“Yeah.”

Ral sounded miserable.  
  


“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Domri piped up. At least he seemed to have recovered a little bit.  
  


Maree gave him a small smile, then turned back to Ral.

“You might want to pack a bag or something, though.”  
  


He nodded but didn’t look up at either of them.  
  


Maree gestured at Domri.

“We should go. I’m sure he has a lot to think about.”  
  


Domri seemed to agree, as he jumped up from his chair and scurried towards the door. He hesitated before he reached for the locks and turned back to Ral.  
  


“I’ll… Talk to you later?”

 

“Sure,” said Ral, “whatever.”  
  


They left and Ral sat down heavily in the chair Domri had been sitting in. The boy certainly seemed to appreciate having someone to talk with about planeswalking. Ral knew he wished he had someone like that - but Ral suspected he was more trouble than he was worth.  
  


He packed a bag that night.  
  


-

  
  


Later in the week, a letter would be sent to the office of the Guildpact that would be ignored, buried under paperwork deemed to be more pressing. It read:  
  


_To Guildpact Jace,_

_Perhaps this is too small a worry for you to be troubled with, but I have some information you may wish to know. This organization has worked tirelessly to prevent any earthquakes from devastating Ravnica over the past several centuries. This past evening, my equipment picked up some small tremors, too small to even be felt by a person. Normally this would not be of any concern. However, they appeared to have originated from beneath Rix Maadi. We will of course keep a close eye on the situation, but if the cause of this is indeed what we fear, it will be up to you to intervene._

_-Ravica Seismology Society_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Have you heard the good word about our lord and savior Snoot? They beta'd this... truly, I would be lost without them.


End file.
